Pauline Quirke | |
---|---|
Born |
Paulina Duckquirke 8 July 1959 London Borough of Hackney, London, England |
Occupation | Actress, writer |
Years active | 1972–present |
Television |
Birds of a Feather Emmerdale (2010–2012) Broadchurch |
Spouse(s) | Steve Sheen (m. 1996) (2 children) Daughter Emily (born c. 1985) and son Charlie (born c. 1995) with husband Steve. |
Children | 2 |
Website | Official website |
Pauline Perpetua Quirke (born 8 July 1959) is an English actress, known for her role as Sharon Theodopolopodous in the long-running comedy series Birds of a Feather from 1989 to 1998, and again since 2014. For this role, she won the 1990 British Comedy Award for Best Newcomer. She was nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for her role in the 1996 BBC miniseries The Sculptress. Her other television credits include Maisie Raine (1998–99), Down to Earth (2000–03), Emmerdale (2010–12) and Broadchurch (2013–15).
Quirke began her career as a child actress aged eight with an appearance in Dixon of Dock Green. Another early role was that of an autistic teenager in the 1975 TV drama Jenny Can't Work Any Faster.
By 1976 she had her own TV show, Pauline's Quirkes, on Thames Television, which featured pop music, teenage topics, and comedy sketches. In 1976 she played the lead role in the "Special Offer" episode of ATV's Beasts, by Nigel Kneale, also starring Geoffrey Bateman, Wensley Pithey and Ruth Goring. Quirke also had a small role in the movie The Elephant Man in 1980, with future Emmerdale colleague Lesley Dunlop. Quirke played Veronica in Shine on Harvey Moon, a British television series made by Central Television for ITV from 8 January 1982 to 23 August 1985 and briefly revived in 1995 by Meridian.